Skating on thin ice

While the global media relishes episode after episode of the FIFA saga, another – quieter – revolution could be taking place that could spell the end of sport governance as we know it. The names involved are arguably less glamorous (or notorious) than the Blatters, Platinis, or even Beckenbauers of this world

When Dutch speed skaters Mark Tuitert and Niels Kerstholt took part in an independent off-season event last year, they knew they were challenging the status quo in most organisations within the pyramid of sport governance. In several disciplines, professional athletes are barred from participating in competitions other than those organised or recognised by the association or federation they belong to.

Let’s take football for ease of reference. Players cannot participate in competitions other than their domestic league or UEFA and FIFA competitions at club and national team level. When the top European clubs flouted the idea of setting up a league of their own outside UEFA – because they have enough demand and economic firepower to do so – they were 1) threatened with eternal suspensions, and 2) accommodated enough to stay put as UEFA bent over backwards to appease them.

Tuitert and Kerstholt were similarly threatened of being suspended from the International Skating Union (ISU) and consequently being unable to compete in major competitions such as the Olympics and the World Championships. Only that in their case the threat was carried out.

For the record, Tuitert is the Olympic Champion in the 1,500 metres and Kerstholt was World Champion in short track with the Dutch national team. Not that it matters much. Their claim would have been the same if they always placed last: here is an organisation, the ISU, that is abusing of its monopoly in regulating the sport, they maintain.

The two skaters complained to the European Commission. As they said in an open letter, “the numbers speak for themselves: an individual short-track speed skater winning all the ISU competitions in a typical season would earn around €25,000. This is less than what the same skater would receive for merely appearing in a single, two-day Ice Derby event”.

The European Commission is indeed investigating the complaint “because it raises specific allegations of breaches of competition law at the international level rather than wider issues of internal governance or rule-making in a sport federation”. Back in June, as soon as a third of the FIFA Executive Committee was arrested in Zurich, the European Parliament has expressed the same concerns.

When sport becomes an economic activity, it has to balance out its traditional autonomy and specificity on one hand, and compliance with market and employment rules on the other. Athletes can only compete at the highest level for a limited number of years, so there must be good reasons for preventing them to take part in events.

This case could well fizzle out if the European Commission deems there were good reasons behind the ISU position. It could be, however, that if the Dutch skaters' claims are considered justified, international sport governance would need to be redefined. International federations such as FIFA  would be restricted to governing the rules of the game, leaving the organisation of competitions (and the mountains of revenues) to others.

If that happens, you heard it here first.